Chiribiquete National Park

Welcome to an absolute frontier of human exploration. You are gazing upon Chiribiquete National Park, pronounced Chee-ree-bee-keh-teh, the largest protected tropical rainforest park on the entire planet. …

Looking straight down through the window of our aircraft, the visual is a monolithic, unbroken carpet of brilliant green. This is the dense tropical rainforest canopy, an ecosystem so complex and interwoven that scientists…

We are now flying level with the sheer, vertical cliffs of the Chiribiquete tepuis. The geology we are observing is exceptionally ancient. …

As we skirt the edge of the tepui plateau, we witness a breathtaking dynamic of water and atmosphere. Because of their geological composition and flat surfaces, these massive sandstone tables absorb a tremendous amount of solar…

Though we cannot land to examine them up close, hidden beneath the dense canopy at the base of the towering cliffs we are flying past lies one of the most astonishing archaeological discoveries in human history. The smooth,…

Of all the creatures depicted in the sprawling galleries of Chiribiquete, none is more prominent, more stylized, or more feared than the jaguar. This powerful feline is the apex predator of the rainforest, moving silently through…

As our flight path takes us toward the outer boundaries of the national park, the illusion of an infinite, untouchable wilderness begins to fracture. Even though the Colombian government heroically expanded the park's protected…

As the majestic, flat-topped silhouettes of the tepuis fade into the green haze behind us, the profound silence of the Amazon seems to ring in the cabin. We have been granted a rare and fleeting glimpse into one of the most…